


Found Family

by minako_arisato



Category: Persona 3
Genre: Gen, Ken amada is not written romantically with any characters in this at all im not a freak, the protags are twins in this, this is all strictly platonic and familial in any sense
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-12-22
Packaged: 2019-08-29 02:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16735026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minako_arisato/pseuds/minako_arisato
Summary: A study on the relationship between Ken Amada and the female protagonist. An episodic documentation roughly based on the social link with none of the gross stuff.Minako slowly gets to know Ken and urges him to enjoy childhood and to not be so eager to grow up. Ken learns to understand and sort through complex emotions and remembers what its like to have a family again.





	1. Naganaki Shrine

               Minako Arisato on the surface is a bright and bubbly teenager with little reservations. However, she has her own emotional withholdings for good reasons, and one of the few people she is genuine with is her twin, Minato. However… She and her brother both have soft spots for the few children they’ve encountered during their year at Gekkoukan High.  

               The day she first met Ken Amada, she was walking through Naganaki Shrine. No particular reason, there wasn’t much going on and she wanted a break, a chance to sit and rest. It was unusual for other teammates to be there at this time of day, so she was surprised to see Yukari and Junpei there speaking to a young boy she had never met before. Yukari noticed her friend’s approach and called her over quickly.

               “Minako! I didn’t know you’d be around here today. We were just talking to Ken; he goes to the elementary school nearby.” Yukari gestured to the boy as she spoke, and he gave a small, somewhat sheepish grin.

               “Hello, my name is Ken Amada,” he bowed a little, “I sometimes run into Takeba-san and Iori-san in town and they check in on me. It’s nice to meet you.”

               No one had directly said what grade this boy was in, but Minako assumed that he must have been very young, maybe 11 or so? But somehow, his manners were impeccable. Admittedly, Minako didn’t consider herself great with kids, and was used to the way Maiko interacted with her. This nearly caught her off her game. “Amada-kun… You’re very polite for someone so young! My name is Minako Arisato, it’s absolutely a pleasure to meet you as well!” She gave him a warm smile in return, though it only seemed to fluster Ken as he looked around and mumbled something she couldn’t quite hear.

               Junpei, who had been oddly quiet until this very moment soon chimed in. “Yeah! Ken-kun sure is mature!”

               “You ever think you could be more like him someday?” Yukari chided. Minako and Ken both giggled a little at this, making Junpei feign insult even more. Their playful argument slowly faded into the background as Ken turned to Minako once more.

               “Excuse me but… you can just call me Ken. Everyone else does, Arisato-san.” He seemed somewhat uncomfortable being treated so formally, Minako noticed. But that was fine. She would talk to him however he preferred.

               “Ok then! But then you can just call me Minako too, whenever you’d like. Its nice that you’re so formal, but you don’t need to do it with me or anything. You’re still young, you have a free pass to be informal when you can.” She offered another soft smile but was confused when Ken didn’t seem pleased. “I’m sorry, did I upset you? I’m actually not that good at talking to kids so-”

               Ken unexpectedly cut her off. “Well, uh, I’d prefer if you didn’t treat me so much like a child, really.” He said it in a hushed tone, unusually quickly. _Ah,_ Minako thought, _he’s got some sort of inferiority complex going on. I still feel bad, so I’ll lay off._

               “Ah… My apologies then, Ken-kun. I’ll keep that in mind for the next time I see you.” Ken made a small noise in response, and Minako assumed it to be one of acceptance. The two stood in a somewhat awkward silence, now simply watching Yukari and Junpei fight it out.

 

* * *

 

               Minato and his twin sat in different areas of Minako’s dorm room later that evening, idly gossiping as they were known to do. Minato was complaining about something that one guy he hung out with sometimes did. Minako thinks that it’s probably Kenji. She doesn’t keep track of Minato’s friends, especially if they’re this annoying. “I wouldn’t mind hanging out with him,” Minato whined, “if he didn’t have this weird fetish for older women. He wants to get with one of our teachers, Minako!”

               That instantly made her listen closer. Her twin knew she was a sucker for drama. “No way. Tell me you’re joking right now.”

               “I wish!” Minato practically shouted this as he turned to cover his face with his pillow. “He’s trying to get me to help! I wanna tell him to buzz off every time he talks to me! But, get this,” He then propped himself up on his elbow and looked at his sister dead in the eyes, “I’ve heard that this teacher has done stuff like this before, and is why Kenji thinks he’s got a shot.”

               Minako was in absolute disbelief at this hot gossip. “No! No, you are absolutely messing with me right now! God, who is the teacher already?”

               Minato looked at her and in the most deadpan voice said, “Ms. Kanou.” His twin screeched again in disbelief, as they then dished back and forth for another hour or so. As it was getting late and time for the two to go to bed, Minako remembered the boy she’d been introduced to today and told Minato about it.

               “Oh right, I ran into Junpei and Yukari at the shrine today, and they were with a kid named Ken Amada. He’s really young but pretty polite and calm. Nothing like Maiko. I almost didn’t know how to deal with him because of that.” She laughed a little, knowing that her twin understood how she felt.

               “Better that you met him than me then, you know I’m even worse with kids.”

               “Oh, I would argue that you get along with them just fine. Maiko tells me about your secret takoyaki runs with her after you get your paycheck.” Minato just grumbled and shuffled out the door, so he didn’t have to get teased any more for the night.


	2. The Introduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ken is brought before SEES for the first time, but he won't be joining them... yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ended up posting this before I thought it would. Took much longer to write than expected though. Next chapter might not be for a while, because finals are in two weeks /lays down

               The next time Minako actually saw Ken again was quite a long time in the making. It was a genuine shock when Ikutsuki led him across the school grounds that Saturday afternoon. He formally introduced Ken for the first time, stating that Ken would be staying in their dorm for the summer, due to some “special circumstances.” Yukari faltered for a minute and said something about his parents. It made Minako freeze, but she kept her face stern.

               “It was only me and my mom, but she got in an accident, and she... she died. It happened two years ago.” Ken had a somewhat pained look on his face. He didn’t look directly at anyone as he spoke. Somehow… Minako thought there was some other emotion on his face, but she couldn’t place it. She inched slightly closer to her twin unconsciously. They’d gone through something similar all those years ago. She found it uncanny that so many of the people that she knew had lost their parents.

               “Are you sure it’s a good idea for him to stay at our dorm? You do realize…” Yukari said with concern, carefully trying to tiptoe around the glaring issue with the whole situation. “Of course, I want to help but is it ok?”

               Ikutsuki pushed up his glasses. “Naturally… he has the potential.” The way he said it so matter-of-factly felt cold. She wasn’t the only one off put by this. Akihiko didn’t hide his distaste.

               “You can’t mean… he’s the new recruit you were talking about?” Akihiko was uncomfortable, and it showed in his body language. He went rigid as he talked, a slight grimace on his face. Minako wondered if he perhaps had a soft spot for children, or if he couldn’t stand the thought of a child being in danger hunting shadows.

               “Its only a possibility at this point. He is still quite young.” Ikutsuki not denying that he would willingly put a child into life or death situations irked Minako. Ken was in elementary school. If he was only looking after Ken to use him, there was no way she could stand for it. Still, she would keep quiet about it for right now. She would talk to Ken before they all left for Yakushima on Monday.

               The group walked mostly in silence back to the dorm. Minako, knowing Minato always has his phone on vibrate, sent him a quick message.

               _Come to my room tonight. There’s something I want to talk about._

 

* * *

 

               The door to Minako’s room closed softly as her twin came in late that evening. He took a seat at her desk as she was rummaging though her closet. “So? What was it you wanted to talk about? We normally have gossip night on Sundays.”

               Minako’s voice was slightly muffled as she was half inside her tall wardrobe. “I thought about waiting, but I’ll need Sunday night to pack for Yakushima. You didn’t forget, did you?”

               “How could I?” Minato laughed. “Junpei’s talked my ear off about it all week. I hope you wear a swimsuit so sexy it kills him.” Minako looked back and smirked a little. “I’m serious!”

               Well, that wasn’t part of her plans for the trip, but she was sure she could manage it. “Sure, sure, I’ve got some swimsuits here you can critique for fun if you want. But really, what I called you here for,” she said in between holding up different swimsuits and posing them over herself, “is about what Ikutsuki was saying today.”

               Minato played along and fake ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the different options he was being showed. “Right, didn’t you say you know that kid? What was his name again?”

               “Ken Amada. I met him only once a while back and this is the first time I’ve seen him since.” Minako stopped playing around with her clothes and sat down on her bed.

               “And so? What’s wrong with him?”

               She contemplated her words for a moment. “Did it seem... unsettling to you about what he said? Both Yukari and Akihiko-senpai seemed off put by it. Junpei might have been too but I think that was more him being disappointed about not getting another girl to mess with.”

               “Is this because he’s an orphan?” Minato looked intensely at his sister. “Listen. Most of SEES is missing parents. We aren’t different. But we grew up alone, and we only had each other. Ken might be going through the same thing right now, but that isn’t your problem. There isn’t anything you can do about that.” Minako looked a little sullen. She knew her brother was right; it wasn’t her problem.

               “Yeah, you’re right. I’ll let it go.” Minako would put Ken out of her head for now. She wouldn’t worry about him, especially if he didn’t end up having a persona. The beach was calling, and she was going to let go of her stress there. It wasn’t her responsibility to look after a child she barely knew.

               So, she wouldn’t.


	3. Made Official

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 8/28. Ken Amada officially joins SEES. The decision is met with some hostility.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took much longer to put up than I expected! Sorry! It's longer than normal, so I hope that makes up for it. There's also a small reference to a conversation in P3 Dancing in Moonlight, so props if you catch it!

* * *

 

               Minako woke up to a knock on her door early that Friday morning. She’d slept in late much of this week as a way to regain some of the energy she’d gradually lost from their constant expeditions into Tartarus, and from enduring school and so on. It was unwelcome, and mildly irritating to say the least. In a bit of a daze, she pulled herself out of bed and pulled the curtains back, letting the sunlight in. She checked the clock next to her bed and sighed a little. “Only 6:30? I was hoping to sleep in until 9 today…” this time, louder, she directed her voice to the person at the door. “One minute, please…” Minako quickly ran a brush through her hair and threw a shawl around her shoulders before unlocking her door.

               Mitsuru seemed sheepish, if only for a moment. “Did I wake you? Apologies, but this is important.” It looked as if she was looking her junior over, perhaps questioning something about her appearance. Minako cared little and cleared her throat a little and nodded for Mitsuru to continue her eventual speech. “Right… The Chairman will be here for an important meeting tonight. Everything will be as usual. That’s all.” With that, she turned on her heel and strode back down the hall. Minako watched her for a bit before finally closing the door.

               _Well… I’d love to go back to sleep but now I’m already up. Best get going, then._ She sets into her daily routine; ties up her hair, brushes her teeth, washes her face and applies some make-up. She slips on her casual clothes and heads into the lobby, where she sees a few others already lounging. Yukari and Akihiko are both here, one starting the day out only now, and the other has been up for a while already. “Oh, good morning. Mitsuru-san wake you up too?” Yukari noticed her friend coming down the stairs and called out.  
  
               A small laugh came from Minako’s lips. “Yeah. I was hoping to stay in later. I’m honestly so tired!” Akihiko pays little mind to their conversation. He’s absorbed in a book. _Studying this early? No, it must be something else._  
  
               Yukari make an exasperated sound of agreement. “I totally understand! I think my skin had been suffering from all this lack of sleep. This break was supposed to be when I would take a load off but… well, you know.” Minako nods aggressively.

               “Oh, Yukari, would you like breakfast? I’m gonna make extra for when Minato wakes up. Akihiko-san, you can have some too.”

               He perks up at that, but it’s obvious he didn’t know what was just asked of him. “Uh, sorry. I’m fine.” Akihiko returns to his book but looks restless after. Yukari looks at Minako and gives her the look of ‘I don’t know’ and waves her hand. She means that she’s fine as well.

               Minako shrugs a little and gets to work cooking food. She’s picked up cooking over the years as a means of taking care of her and her twin. Since they were tossed from family member to family member, it just made sense for her to learn to cook just so they had a reason to be kept around and guaranteeing that they ate. Minato, conversely, was good with his hands and was good at fixing things because of this. Minako sets the rice maker and preps the rest of the meal as Fuuka and Aigis come down the stairs. She greets them and gestures to the food. Fuuka also waves her off. Aigis, of course, does not eat.

               After some time, the omurice is finally done. She boxes up Minato’s half, and puts it aside with a note. This is a routine they are used to, and Minako does not mind doing this. Yukari has moved on with her day, but everyone else is still in the lobby. It’s no surprise to her that Minato and Junpei haven’t come through yet, but the fact that Ken hasn’t come around yet is. Ken usually is awake at the same time as all the other people in the dorm. Minako sets her food down on the table across from Akihiko. He doesn’t look up when she does. Admittedly, she wouldn’t be sitting down like this dead across from him, but she wants to try and see what he’s reading. She’s nosy. What can she say?

               She eats her food as always and steals glances at what she can now see is a magazine. Minako tries to read the print, but its too small. She’s annoyed but keeps looking. The more she looks over the pages, it makes less sense. _It looks almost like…? A tabloid? Why would he have that?_ As she’s pondering this, she hears someone coming down the stairs, and her head naturally turns to see who it is. Ken’s finally made his way down. He looks the same as he has the whole time he’s been staying in their dorm, but his face seems harder somehow. Like he’s been thinking about something difficult all night. She calls him over. “Ken-kun, come here for a sec.”

               “Minako-san? Did you need something?” He walks over slowly, carefully. He still isn’t used to her, even though they’ve seen each other every morning for over a month.

               “I made some omurice just a bit ago. Would you like to try some?” She picks a bite up with her utensils and offers it up to him.

               Ken looks embarrassed for a second. “Are you sure its ok? Omurice is one of my favorites, but…”

               “Of course it’s fine, I already offered! Go on and try it!” She sticks the food closer to his face and nods him on. He takes the food, slowly from the chopsticks with his fingers and pops it into his mouth. Minako swears his eyes light up.

               “It’s really good! You made this?” She nods again.

               “I can make some for you anytime, it’s no extra work on my part. I already made some extra from Minato, but if you’re hungry you can have his half. I can make something else for him later.”

               “I’d feel bad taking something you made for someone else…” he looks embarrassed again and takes a small half step back.  
               “You can have the rest of mine then, I’m not actually that hungry.” She smiles at ken and holds her plate out towards him.  
               Another set of footsteps sound down the stairs. “She’s lying. She makes two lunches for herself. Eats one during morning classes and another during lunch; she’s absolutely still hungry.” Minato walks into the lobby and looks coldly on at Ken then at her.

               “That’s not true! It’s not nice to slander people’s good names!” Minako glares daggers at her twin.

               Another voice makes its way into the lobby. “No, he’s right. I’ve seen you sneaking bites when the teacher turns around.” Junpei peeks around the corner and flashes her a peace sign.

               “Whose side are you on, Junpei? I thought we were friends!” She points an accusatory finger at him. “Fine, next time Ms. Toriumi catches you snoozing I won’t give you the answer to the question she asked!” She huffs and turns her nose up at him.

               “Nooo! Have mercy! It was a joke, a joke!” Junpei begs her, and she notices that Ken doesn’t know what to do anymore and has taken another step back from her as well. She sighs and hands Ken the bowl again and stands up. It doesn’t matter if he eats it or not at this point. Similarly, Akihiko rolls up the magazine he was reading and tucks it under his arm and heads back up to his room. Aigis and Fuuka are still watching something on the TV. Aigis finally takes note of the commotion and calls out to Minako.

               “Minako-san! Do not forget that we have plans to go to the movie theater today!” Oh, she had forgotten. She gives a thumbs up to Aigis.

               “The movie is this afternoon, I’ve got some errands to run first and then I’ll come get you.”

               The errands seemingly fly by as does the ninja movie she and Aigis watch. All of a sudden, evening is upon them, and so is the meeting on the 4th floor of the dorm.

               Everyone has arrived in the meeting room by this point. Minako is sitting on the sofa next to Fuuka, Koromaru at their feet, Mitsuru in her own chair, Yukari opposite to her. Minato is leaning against the wall at the far end of the room, Junpei sitting on the swivel chair near the big machine in the corner, resting on the back. Akihiko comes in last, and hands something to Ikutsuki before he stands near Mitsuru’s chair and crosses his arms.

               Another minute passes, and Ikutsuki finally clears his throat. “Now that we’re all here…” he turns his head towards the door and speaks again. “You may come in.” The door opens slowly, and Ken walks in. Minako again feels the same way she did over a month ago when he was first introduced to them as a possible teammate. She’d genuinely hoped he would not have had the potential to fight along side them. Ken greets them all, professionally.

               Akihiko is the first to voice his distaste. “You can’t be serious.”

               Mitsuru seconds him. “Amada is still just an elementary student. Mr. Chairman, I think this is…”

               “That it is what? Amada has passed all the tests we’ve put in place. His powers are more than adequate for what we do. Furthermore, he’s the one who asked to join.” Cold, so cold. The way he speaks is so harsh when it comes to this business. Minako hates it.

               Ken shapes up, more confident than he was this morning. “I believe I’ll be of some use. I finally know why I have this power, and I won’t be wasting this opportunity.”

               “…Nice to have you.” Minato’s tired voice barely carries across the room. Minako turns to look at her twin, and his eyes meet hers. He narrows his eyes a little as he stares at her, and she understands instantly what he’s trying to convey to her. _There’s nothing you can do about it. Accept it and move on._ She grounds herself again. He’s right. She’s been getting too friendly with him again out of habit.

               To her relief, no one other than Junpei seems to be accepting this at face value. Everyone is uncomfortable at the prospect of putting a genuine child’s life at risk, even if he agrees to it.

 

* * *

 

               The next few days in the dorm were awkward, all things considering. Ken had been in the dorm before, but now it was official, and no one really liked it. Sunday was by far the worst. It was predetermined as a night that they would all go to Tartarus, and so Ken was there as well. The group has a set way of climbing through Tartarus. Minako lead what they called the charge group, which paved the way up the floors and took out whatever guardians they ran into. Not necessarily an elite team, just whoever was better suited to handle the shadows they were encountering in that area. Minato lead the recon group, which was the lesser suited members combing through the floors focused more on finding items. This group would enter the dungeon shortly after the lead group would, so that they would not pass them up and end up at a disadvantage. This formation has worked very well for the whole of SEES thus far an has kept them all fit and equipped to fight. However, this time, the two twins were arguing about what members to bring.

               “I think Ken-kun should go into your group, Minato. I don’t think it’s smart to throw him right into the heat of battle. We aren’t desperate anymore, and he’s never done this before. I want to play it safe.” Minako says carefully, being very sure of the words she is picking.

               “But Ken has skills that are better suited against the shadows in this area than other members. You should take him with you.” Minato folds his arms.

               “Are you talking about the Zio skills? Akihiko-san and I have that covered. You know I got that new Persona the other day just for this.”

               “The Hama skills, Minako.” Shoot, she couldn’t really argue with that one.

               “You have a point with that, but those skills are risky and draining if we don’t use them right. I only rely on them if we know for sure they’ll work.”

               Minato gets more irritated. “That’s what we have Fuuka for. Stop dodging this. Just take him along with you.”

               “I don’t want to!” She shouts it, and everyone in the grand foyer stops for a moment. Someone behind her clears their throat.

               “I think it’s better to start him off on the reserve team as well.” Akihiko steps up. “Most of us haven’t had the luxury of learning in a less lethal environment. If anything, I’d like to allow him that.”

               “Me too… I’d be less anxious if he has time to get used to this.” This time, Yukari has stepped up. “It was so hard for me to get the courage to fight the shadows… Even now its still hard. If he didn’t have to learn that way and could ease into it… I would appreciate it.” Minako looks to the remaining members, some more aggravated than others. Usually, Mitsuru has already stepped in to clear the air when such arguments arise, but even she hasn’t said a word. Minako sighs.

               “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. I just don’t feel comfortable taking Ken-kun with us yet. Please, just take him into your group for now and if he handles it well, then I’ll feel better about taking him with my group. Please?”

               “Fine. But you’ll have to take him if I say so. It doesn’t matter if you’re all anxious about him being a kid or whatever, the matter is that he’s here now and well, I’ll be damned if one of our teams gets wiped because someone is too stubborn to take someone that they need along.” Minato walks off and begins speaking to his team, consisting of Mitsuru, Junpei, and Ken, leaving her with Yukari, Koromaru, and Akihiko. She felt guilty, but she didn’t want to show it. She turned to her team and gave them the best smile she could manage and headed into Tartarus. She shot a glance back as she did, and noticed that Ken seemed upset about the verdict, but she quickly faded into the block high above the foyer as soon as she thought about changing her mind.

**Author's Note:**

> I saw some nasty fic on here the other day about Ken and I started writing this to purge myself out of spite! I don't ever post any writings before I've finished the whole thing but I'm so mad that posting this one chapter is gonna force me to write more. Anyways enjoy and if I don't post the next chapter soon genuinely @ me and tell me to do it


End file.
